“So Princess Sinna was unhappy,” I guess.
Nora nods, then gestures emphatically to indicate the room, in complete disarray thanks to a child- size tornado. I sigh.
“Has anyone checked on the queen?” I say.
Nora bites her lip again— then shakes her head.
I look at the door to the queen’s chambers, then move across the room and press my ear to the door.
Nothing.And I’m sure Princess Sinna wasn’t quiet if she caused this kind of mess.
This is why I can’t leave,Lord Alek.
I finally move back to Nora’s side and resume tidying the mess. We work together in silence until Nora whispers, “I know people were afraid of the king and his magic, but this doesn’t feel better, Cally- cal.”
“I know,” I say. I look out the window at the training fields, where scravers attacked the king a couple of weeks ago. He only had two Emberish soldiers to stand at his side— until the queen and I emerged from the palace and lent our power to their efforts. Power that we’re not supposed to have. Most people think that we’re safe from the scravers now that magic has been banished from Syhl Shallow.
But every now and then, I feel the sparks and stars in my blood, and I know it’snotgone. Not from me, and not from the queen.
After a moment, I look back at the chamber door, considering the woman trapped by her own sorrow, and the distraught child caught in the middle. I consider my country, how so many people were terrified of magic that they drove the king right out of the palace.
But now the queen is drowning in grief. Allied soldiers from Emberfall have been ordered to leave. The king is gone.
Nora is right. Nothing seems better at all.
CHAPTER 3
ALEK
I’m no stranger to being woken by nightmares.
In the past, the visions that haunted my dreams were either my sister or my mother being torn apart on a battlefield. A monster summoned by magic would swoop down from the sky, fangs and claws ripping into fragile skin, tearing them limb from limb, blood spraying in an arc to coat the faces of nearby soldiers.
The nightmares are a little ridiculous. My sister didn’t even die that way. She died during an attack on King Grey, and an arrow pierced her heart.
Unfortunately, my dreams— mynightmares— don’t seem to care about accuracy. My mother truly was torn apart by a monster on the other side of the border, and my thoughts are all too happy to connect their deaths in my mind. More than once I’ve woken in a cold sweat after watching them dietogether. The monsters in my dreams shift and change from night to night, taking on scales or feathers or horns— or all three at once— but they’re always awful.
But this morning when a nightmare awakens me, it’s not my sister or my mother being ripped to pieces by taloned hands.
It’s Callyn.
I wake panting, sweat soaking the fine linen sheets on my bed. Summer heat fills the room, and the bright sunlight blazing through the window tells me it must be midmorning.
I run a hand across my face, and it comes away damp. I blindly reach for the pull cord beside my bed and give it a jerk. Somewhere, a chime rings distantly.
I shouldn’t be dreaming about her. If my sleeping thoughts insist on showing me Callyn, the nightmares should be visions of hercontrollingthe monster. Not being attacked by it.
Because she lied. She betrayed me. With hermagic.
But she also saved me.
I press both hands into my face, rubbing at my eyes until I see stars. Until it hurts.
With a gasp, I jerk my hands down, and I give the cord another furious yank. I shouldn’t be thinking about her anyway. She’s no better than the king— and she’s likely gone from the palace by now, just like he is. Grey left weeks ago, and my reports say his soldiers aren’t far behind. No scraver attacks have been reported in Syhl Shallow. The king’s magic is gone— and Callyn’s should be, too. She’s a danger to the queen, and she’s a danger to the princess, so I gave her an ultimatum.
I told her to leave.
A twinge of regret flares in my chest.
